Coronavirus: All international arrivals to India to share travel history at airports

Air India asks passengers of Feb 25 AI154 Vienna-Delhi flight to come for tests; IndiGo quarantines 4 crew members of Feb 20 Dubai-Bengaluru flight. In its directive, the Bureau of Immigration said all foreign and Indian nationals entering India from any port were required to self-declare their travel history as well as provide personal particulars.

New Delhi | Mumbai: The government said on Tuesday all incoming international passengers must declare their travel history to health and immigrations officials at India’s airports.

It issued the advisory after a man who travelled from Italy via Vienna and entered the country without any screening at the Delhi airport was tested positive for the new coronavirus on Monday.

The man had travelled in an Air India flight from the Austrian capital. On Tuesday, the national carrier tweeted asking passengers of the February 25 AI154 Vienna-Delhi flight to come forward for tests.

IndiGo said it has put its four crew members on a February 20 Dubai-Bengaluru flight on quarantine, after a passenger was tested positive in Telangana. The airline said it was cooperating with authorities in identifying other passengers in that flight.

In its directive, the Bureau of Immigration said all foreign and Indian nationals entering India from any port were required to self-declare their travel history as well as provide personal particulars such as phone number and address in India.

At Delhi and Mumbai airports, health ministry and hospital officials ask international passengers before the immigration counters to declare whether they had come from any coronavirusaffected countries. If a passenger has travelled to one of those countries, he or she has to go through a thermal scanner.

The countries that are on the checklist of the Indian government are China, South Korea, Japan, Italy, Hong Kong, Macau, Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, Nepal, Thailand, Singapore and Taiwan.

The passenger who landed in Delhi on February 25 had told health authorities that he was coming from Vienna and so did not need to go through screening, officials said.

The passenger, who has now been quarantined, had interacted with several people after he landed in India, including at a birthday party. Authorities have now detected six suspected cases of infection in Agra. These people had apparently come in contact with this person.

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation on Tuesday issued an advisory asking airlines to disinfect aircraft every time a flight comes from an affected zone and before the boarding of passengers. It also asked cabin crew and operational staff at airport to wear protective gear.